what is san francisco police chief is saying about those controversial devices. kumasi: one-on-one with the new santa clara county sheriff. how he plans to work with deputies as he begins today. reggie: plummeting prices at the pump, gas prices lower than this time last year. what is behind the drop. kumasi: it is a winter storm watch this weekend. this is a live look at interstate 80. if you are underway to tahoe, officials say to leave now. after our newscast, believes in. reggie: you can stream us on the way up there. kumasi: but don't look at your screen. reggie: please don't do that. kumasi: and lot to get to. drew: we have one storm this evening, it is light of the weekend storm will bring heavy rain and snow to the sierra.

30's is dry. here is our next storm system arriving later this afternoon and into the evening. on the storm impact scale, it is a level 111 storm with light to moderate showers. the biggest concern will be slick conditions for the evening commute. rainfall less than one fourth of an inch for us. exploratorium camera showing you foggy conditions. it is a pretty cloudy day overall. this afternoon by 4:00 p.m. the best chance of finding a shower will be first in the north bay and then that system will slide south. this evening, everyone is fair game for scattered showers. take the umbrella with you this evening. we will talk about this storm and the strongest one this weekend in about eight minutes. reggie: if you are planning on heading to the sierra, you should leave soon.

the storm is expected to bring several feet of snow to the area. travel is expected to be difficult, perhaps even impossible on saturday. chp is warning drivers to be prepared and plan ahead. if you are headed to the mountains, pack chains and supplies in case you get stuck. in the north bay, water officials are lowering a rubber dam. it serves two purposes, it restricts water flow to prevent flooding and diverts water into storage ponds to help with the water supply. if you want to track these storms on your -- your tv, download our abc7 news app. kumasi: something that is going to make you happy if you have to fill up your gas tank, the average price for a gallon in california is lower than this time last year. lena is live where she got some of the lowest prices in our area.

lena: i have never bee to report finding a tank of gas just for $3.49 a gallon. we are at a national gas station in clayton. while this is lower than the state average, you can expect to see prices declining across the state throughout this year. prices at the pump today are lower than they were a year ago. today's average is this time lester it was $4.69. our highest price was at $6.44. the price escalation came with russia's invasion of ukraine but the report from the new york times says the drop in prices was led by a decline in worldwide injury -- worldwide energy demand. the biden administration has

been pulling from the nation's petroleum reserves since the spring in an effort to bring prices down. it price of west texas intermediate crude oil fell to its lowest level of the year this week. aaa expects the drop in prices to continue because the winter blend of a is cheaper to produce with less environment restrictions. this is all welcomed news for folks ahead of this holiday season with more spending cash before christmas. lena howland, abc7 news. reggie: there are new clues in the university of idaho murder mystery. police have released a new body camera video and information about who they are looking for. jobina: police are asking for the public's help in the investigation of the murder of four university of ohio students -- university of idaho students. they're looking for the driver of a 2013 hyundai elan truck. they don't -- hyundai elantra.

i think the people who own the car may have critical information. police have obtained new body video showing an unrelated police stop near where the murders happened. the people in the video have been cleared but analysts say details could be used in the case. >> it can be used from historic standpoint. that information could become irrelevant later in the investigation because you just never know. jobina: one month into this investigation and there have been no suspects identified and no arrests have been made. the families are becoming frustrated. one father hired a private attorney. kumasi: now to one of the most clicked-on stories on abc7news.com. a mountain lion dragged an elderly dog out of a home.

the dog is okay. rebecca crocker said the mountain lion came into her kitchen through an open sliding door, grabbed the dog, named sherman. crocker was able to call her neighbor who scared the mountain lion away by firing a gun. she was lying on the ground and she fears the worse. >> suddenly my dog popped up and we were like, just thought that, too? reggie: this happened november 28. it took five days for the officials to catch the mountain lion. they s and they had to euthanize it. san francisco's police chief is defending his request to have access to robots capable of lethal force. chief bill scott went on twitter saying sfpd would use the

robot's maple option as a last resort. the board of supervisors voted to approve the use but tuesday they reversed course after a huge public outcry and national media attention. chief scott commented on the ordeal at a chief commission meeting referencing a larger plan on the use of military equipment. >> and lotto information out there is disinformation. we will continue to work with the board. everything is passed except for the cause of how we will be able to use our robots. reggie: the proposal has been sent back to the rules committee for review. the rules committee can revise the plan and send it back to the board or abandon it. kumasi: president biden says he believes it is possible for the federal government to ban assault weapons again. he called for move common sens and is calling for other gun-control measures.

he made his comments during a visual -- a vigil last night. he praised survivors and victims for turning pain into purpose. he says more work needs to be done on behalf of the lives we have lost and all the lives we can save. reggie: new developments in a growing investigation at stanford. the board of trustees is bringing in former deputy attorney general to look at claims against the president of the university. the president is being investigated for possible misconduct related to multiple scientific articles he authored. mark philip is being brought in by the university's board to lead the review. he will talk with leading scientific experts independent of the university to review the articles in question. kumasi: governor newsom will be up north looking at the largest

river restoration project in american history. california got the green light for the project along the klamath river. it is to restore river health and fish population. organ's governor -- oregon's governor and other officials will join governor newsom. drew: we are finding dense fog in spots right now. the north bay is impacted the most right now. anywhere from a quarter to half a mile of visibility. that fog will linger through the 9:00 a.m. our here comes our next storm system, it will bring showers this afternoon into the evening. on a storm impact scale, this is a level one with the biggest impact being slick conditions as we go about the thursday evening commute. midday, it is cloudy. we remain try. showers arrive in the north bay

and as the evening goes on, scattered showers become a more widespread. late tonight as the storm system was down, we will still track light showers as the storm exits the region. highest about in the mid-50's. take the umbrella as we go through evening showers. we want to take you to a special report. >> brittney griner has been released from a russian prison. this is something the biden administration has been working on for some time. i want to go to cecelia vegas. we expect to hear from president biden in just a few minutes actually. we just heard from the white house at 8:30. and, look, this is a major win for this white house. this is a major win for the country to get brittney griner home. the wnba star who has been in prison in russia held and captive for over nine months now, just recently president biden said there had been regular talks between the u.s. and moscow talking to her wife

as well and there have been constant communication. but this is a negotiation that has happened at the highest levels of both governments at a time when tensions are at their most high between the two country, of course, she has been held in captivity, held in custody there after she was found guilty of illegal drug possession. you'll remember she was sentenced to nine years in prison. recently moved to one of those penal colonies and, again, this has been negotiations going at the highest level but happening behind closed doors. it is unclear at this point, i believe who the white house is going to swap for, we actually just have that in. this is viktor bout, the -- if i remember correctly the convicted russian arms dealer. moscow had wanted to potentially have an exchange for th assassin who shot the former chechen rebel. that did not happen. but, george, this is a huge deal. it is breaking right now. we expect to hear more from

president biden later this morning around 8:30 he'll be speaking at the white house. a big scramble to get everyone here. this was not on the agenda. it happened very early and, again, we expect to hear from him shortly. >> thanks very much. pierre thomas, what more can you tell us about viktor bout. >> reporter: viktor bout is a convicted arms smuggler of the highest order that the united states government had convicted. he was serving a 25-year sentence. i spoke with a source just a few moments ago who said the swap had, in fact, taken place. brittney griner for viktor bout. obviously law enforcement not the lead on this particular case. this was held -- dealt with at the highest diplomatic levels as cecilia just said. the president himself signing off on this swap. the white house was under enormous pressure to get this done. the likes of lebron james, stephen curry, major stars in the nba telling the white house over and over, get this done. this woman does not need to be in custody, so therefore the

united states government reacting to this had been working behind the scenes, my source saying the swap has taken place. law enforcement was involved in transporting viktor bout to the location, the swap has taken place, george. >> okay, thank you. let me bring in martha raddatz. and, martha, we know there are other americans in custody in russia including paul whelan. >> reporter: paul whelan. this will be a huge issue. the whelan family, of course, has put pressure on the administration as well. he was arrested in 2018. he has been held there ever since. he was accused of spying. the russians claim they found a usb drive on his person that included the names of intelligence officers. he has really been in the news with brittney griner. she, of course, has the celebrity. there are so many people who came forward and pleaded for her release. she had the unfortunate timing, she was arrested about a week

before the russians invaded ukraine and has been held ever since. she, of course, in june said, i did have hashish oil with me thinking she'd get a lesser sentence. that did not happen. this is, of course, great news, but the whelan family is going to be hugely disappointed, george. >> thank you, martha. want to bring in steve ganyard. we know this is a straight up swap so far, this is the details we have for viktor bout, the arms dealer. one of the big questions, does this have any connection to the war in ukraine? >> george, it has every connection. i think there's another question here and that is why now. brittney griner has been in jail for awhile now. her public star is declining just a bit and that means she's of less use, less utility as a negotiating pawn to putin so he saw his opportunity here, remember, it all comes back to the relationship between russia and the u.s. and what's going on in ukraine and so putin probably said now is the time to do it.

this is our maximum negotiating leverage and this will get us the best pr and hopefully improve the relationship with the u.s. so now is the time and you notice that viktor bout is in there. his heyday was in the '90s and he's really not that big a player here so they had to do a one for one. i'm not surprised whelan wasn't included. they weren't going to give us a two for one deal. >> a big deal for the griner family and learning his wife is at the white house and both she and the president have spoken with brittney. >> reporter: exactly. i'm thinking back to this summer. we have heard frankly very little publicly from brittney griner as she has been in captivity, of course, we have all seen those horrifically sad images of her during the trial held in captivity there and just heartbreaking images, but back in july, the president did receive a letter from griner on the fourth of july in which she said she was terrified that she

could end up there in moscow forever. there has been a lot of communication between president biden and griner's wife as you said. she was here at the white house late in the summer but, george, it was not too long ago after the midterms that president biden signaled that now that the midterms had ended that perhaps vladimir putin would be willing to talk more seriously about a prisoner exchange. the president knew that vladimir putin was very closely watching the political situation here in our own country and was hoping that, in fact, now that the politics of those midterms were over that would signal some kind of sit-down. usually the u.s. negotiates behind closed doors on these high-level talks like this and in this case there was an unusual move over the summer where the administration came out publicly to say they had put this very substantial offer for this exchange on the table hoping to secure griner's release and, of course, whelan's release back in july but offered -- the u.s. offered this

proposed exchange again as i was saying for bout. the u.s. implied that they didn't feel like they were getting very far in those negotiations but even the fact that they publicly had talked about that detail of the negotiation was pretty unusual and just shows, again, we can't emphasize enough what high stakes the high levels these talks have been happening at. >> thank you, cecilia. back to martha raddatz. let's pick up on what i was talking about with steve ganyard. interesting time in the war in ukraine. it's been grinding on now for months and months and had president macron of france here last week meeting with president biden and, of course, macron has been pushing for negotiations. you wonder what else is going on behind the scenes. >> reporter: well, i was thinking today about what vladimir putin said yesterday about nuclear war, that nuclear war is more likely and yet he tried very hard to downplay that the russians would ever use a nuclear weapon. he basically talked about his own mental stability as well

saying we are not mad. we know what nuclear weapons do and we use them only as a deterrent. vladimir putin wants this war to end. he wants to get out of this war. he has talked about negotiations. the ukrainians will have none of that. they think they have made progress, so vladimir putin this seems like the exact right thing to do as steve said right now, to release brittney griner, to try to get some better relationship with not only the u.s. but the world. but i don't think that's really going to work, george. >> probably not. let me bring steve ganyard back. we saw the secretary of state antony blinken yesterday also say that basically the end game would have to include vladimir putin pulling back all the way, maybe getting crimea, nothing else. nothing that he's gained since the war. possible that vladimir putin given the situation he's in now could ever accept that? >> i don't think so, george. it would be political suicide. the crimea holds a special place

in the hearts of russians and in putin's heart as well so i don't think he could give that up and politically survive. if they go back to the pre-february 15th line before the russian invasion that's probably going to be the negotiating benchmark but at this point i think that there's a lot of long winter negotiating that will have to go on. >> what are we learning about viktor bout? >> reporter: arms dealer of the highest order. someone who had a fleet of aircraft, a merchant of death as he's been described in the past and it's clear that the u.s. government felt enormous pressure to use that chip because this is not the kind of person that the united states government would want to free from a lengthy prison term but the fact that brittney griner was seen as an important figure, had become a symbol of unfair treatment in russia, that the administration felt the need to make this singularly important

move at this particular point, george, again, just to emphasize, this man was a person who was one of the bigger arms dealers in the world. he had been convicted wiand was serving his term and the government said we'll release him in order to get brittney griner back. >> jon karl, let me bring you in as well. we know there was quite a lot of pressure to get brittney griner out of russian prison all through washington and across the country. >> reporter: you know, this was a top priority for president biden in particular. made a major effort for months it was a private effort through channels to try to pressure the russians to release her offering up, of course, viktor bout. what was extraordinary about that campaign is that at one point, you know, biden went -- the biden administration went public with it, george, publicly making it clear they were

willing to trade viktor bout to get griner freed. something that was an indication that the negotiations really weren't going anywhere, but this has been something that biden has personally been involved, the personal involvement of the president and, of course, against the backdrop of the russian invasion of ukraine at a time when russian/u.s. relations were at a low really since the cold war. >> jon karl, thanks very much. again, brittney griner has been released from a russian prison and we're expecting to hear from president biden shortly and we'll be back with that in just a few moments. >> announcer: this has been a special reggie: that was a huge surprise this morning. kumasi: brittney griner being released from a russian prison for a swap with victor boot --

viktor bout. all the work going on behind the scenes and we know brittney griner has had a lot of support publicly. so many people are being -- are happy about her release. reggie: stephen curry was one of the ones who cannot to try to persuade the u.s. government to do everything it could to make a deal and they have. but the deal comes at a high price. it comes for an exchange with a man serving 25 years in prison. brittney griner comes back here and it appears to be the end of that deal. we have another person reading and a pressure, paul whelan, and has been wrongfully accused and continues to serve time in prison. kumasi: we are expecting to hear kumasi: we are expecting to hear fr if you run a small business,

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drew: the exploratorium camera

showing you dense fog, clouds impacting the north bay. temperatures with additional cloud cover, not as yesterday. upper 30's to mid 40's this morning. cutting of the sky as the day goes on. showers are white this afternoon and spread south for the evening with this little one on the storm impact scale. mid-50's for afternoon highs. take the umbrella if you are out and about this evening. tonight for showers end from north to south and we have high temperatures in the 30's and 40's. on the storm impact scale, saturday is a level two moderate storm with heavy rain, strong winds, and irving flooding -- and urban flooding. rainfall estimates for saturday, i think there is an estimate between half an inch and 1.5 inches of rain. winds will be an issue.

we will likely see when suggesting 30 to 40 miles per hour saturday morning as the storm moves through. we will see a major snowstorm in the sierra. a winter storm warning will go into effect starting tomorrow. for snow, three to five feet. we see those snow levels drop to 3500 feet. rain later today. showers late tomorrow but it is a stormy day saturday with left over showers sunday and we dry out next week. jobina: unfortunately, we are starting this commute with a deadly crash in dublin. the chp has been able to clear the lands but you might face some debris on west side 580 two the connector rep. -- to the connector ramp. a live look in san rafael. much better than yesterday in terms of the fog. bringing in a life picture of emeryville showing you 80, let's traveling westbound.

we did see metering lights come on earlier yesterday. we will wrap up your. crazy to dublin, 35 minutes. reggie: -- kumasi: coming up, st. jude has helped increase the overall childhood cancer survival rate

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reggie: recounts have been called for two bay area races. in antioch, joy months lost walker after an audit last week. -- recount to make sure all votes were counted. in richmond, andrew but lost to cesar zepeda when both candidates earned the same number of votes. he said his family filed the paperwork asking for the recount citing that there are some issues worth looking into.

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griner has been released from a russian prison. what we learned about in prison swap. kumasi: three paxlovid deliveries. reggie: here is a live look at the airports where workers are set to protests today. kumasi: plunging gas prices, if you have to fill up this morning, you will be pleasantly surprised. it is thursday, december 8. reggie: we will hear the president any moment now so we will break in when we gets that. drew: what we are finding on laptop the seven is dense fog right now. you can see it in the north bay. petaluma, our typical problem spot. novato, zero miles visibility. we evidence fog advisory in solano county. outside the north bay, we are okay. rain does return to the forecast this afternoon. it is a level one on the exclusive abc7 storm scale.

the biggest impact should be slick roads as the evening commute goes underway. here are low clouds from our sportswear camera. the second half of the day, rain enters the picture. if you are out this afternoon into the evening. you want to take the umbrella with you. a stronger storm arrives this week and we will talk about that in eight minutes. reggie: we want to get you up-to-date on the breaking news. we are tracking brittney griner being released from russian custody in a prison swap. she was swap for an arms dealer serving a 25 year prison sentence in the u.s. the prison swamp the prisoner swap -- the prisoner swap took place in saudi arabia. president biden shared this tweet, "moments ago i spoke to a brittney griner. she is safe. she is on a plane on her way home."

we expect to live president biden any minute now. when that happens, we will bring that to you. kumasi: immune attack. a search of covid, the flu, and rsv cases on the rise. hospital beds are getting more full with the holidays near. jobina: hospitals are under pressure across the country. some local pharmacies don't have enough supplies for over the counter flu and cold medicines. doctors are advising russian, encouraging vaccinations and boosters. masks are required in sacramento county jails and hospitals after the county moved into a medium level of transmission. doctors are saying that number of pediatric patients is unusually high for this time of

year. >> she had low oxygen which i call hypoxia and a fever and they said they needed to admit her right away. jobina: couldn't other had to wait a full day before a hospital bed opened up. four days later, she is recovering from rsv, flu, and a collapsed lung. for anyone seeking over the counter treatments, you can try checking several stores. doctors recommend trying out generic versions of go to medications. kumasi: walgreens has launched free delivery of paxlovid for people who have contracted covid. doordash and uber are part this service to get treatment to the people who needed. walgreens has more than 8000 locations offering same-day delivery. all you need is a prescription from your health care provider. reggie: we are learning about

new threats to our nation's power grid on the west coast. five substations reported physical attacks. the power companies are not saying how the attacks work. out but one briefly current electricity to customers outside portland. this comes after officials in north carolina say a gunman shut up two facilities saturday leaving entire accounts without power. authorities are offering a $75,000 award in the south carolina investigation. gas prices have dropped. here is what the average prices look like. in oakland, it will cost you $4.62 for a gallon of regular gas. in san jose, $4.63. in san francisco, $4.72. lena howland is life where -- is live in concord where we are saying low prices. lena: this national gas station

isn't selling some of the cheapest gas we can find in the entire state at $3.49 a gas prices across the state are lower than they were a greco. this comes days after a special legislative session and the capital where governor newsom unveiled his proposal to unveil high gas prices. it would create a price gouging penalty on companies the state deems to have excess profit. it would expand the energy commission's authority to investigate pricing and the information oil companies would be required to report to the state. >> it is completely unfair to californians for these companies to be price gouging, to be charging californians whatever they want and putting all of that money in their pocket. lena: for the current decline in

prices, a report from the new york times says the drop was led by a drop in the worldwide energy demand. the biden administration has been pulling from the federal reserve's to drive these prices down. aaa expects this drop in to continue throughout the rest of this year because the winter blend is cheaper to produce. kumasi: you might notice protests happening at sfo today. we know hundreds of workers are planning to hold an all-day demonstration. workers are demanding higher wages and safer working conditions. the examiner is reporting service workers, including people who clean plans and help wiltshire passengers will be part of this demonstration. it starts at 11:00 this morning and employees hope it will lead to negotiations. airport officials have not said how travel might be impacted. reggie: a man accused of

attacking an east bay restaurant worker is expected to be arraigned. isaac carter faces three felony charges. he punished an assistant manager at habit burger several times after she stood up for a boy with special needs. it looks like we are going to a special report, president biden talking about the release of brittney griner. nd she should have been there all along. this is a day we've worked toward for a long time. weever stopped pushing for her release. it took painstaking and intense negotiations and i want to thank all the hard working public servants across my administration who worked tirelessly to secure her release. also want to thank the uae for helping us facilitate brittney's return because that's where she landed. these past few months have been hell for brittney and for

cherelle and her entire family and all her teammates back home. people across the country have learned about brittney's story advocated for her release, stood with her throughout this terrible ordeal. and i know that support meant a lot to her family. i'm glad to be able to say that brittney is in good spirits. she is relieved to finally be heading home and the fact remains that she's lost months of her life experienced needless trauma and she deserves space, privacy and time with her loved ones to recover and heal from her time being wrongfully detained. brittney is an incomparable athlete. two-time olympic gold medalist for team usa. she endured mistreatment and a show trial in russia with characteristic grit and incredible dignity. she represents the best america -- best about america. it is across the board. everything about her. she wrote to me back in july. she didn't ask for special

treatment even though we had been working on her release since day one but requested a simple quote, please don't forget about me and the other american detainees, please do all you can to bring us home. we never forgot about brittney. we've not forgotten about paul whelan who has been unjustly detained in russia for years. this was not a choice of which american to bring home. we brought home trevor reed when we had a chance earlier this year. sadly for totally illegitimate reasons russia is treating paul's case differently than brittney's and while we have not yet succeeded in securing paul's release we are not giving up. we will never give up. we remain in close touch with paul's family, the whelan family and my thoughts are prayers are with them today. they have to have such mixed emotions today and we'll keep negotiating in good faith for paul's release. i guarantee that. i say that to the family. i guarantee you. i urge russia to do the same to ensure that paul's health and

humane treatment are maintained until we are able to bring him home. i don't want any american to sit wrongfully detained one extra day if we can bring that person home. buy administration has brought home dozens of americans wrongly detained or held hostage abroad. many of whom had been held since before i took office. and today we also remember the other americans that are being held hostage and wrongfully detained in russia or anywhere else in the world. reuniting americans with their loved ones remains a priority, a priority for my administration and every person in my administration involved this this and we'll continue to work hard to bring home every american who endures such an injustice and prevent any more american families from suffering this pain and separation and i strongly urge, i strongly urge all americans to take precautions including reviewing the state department's travel advisories before they travel overseas which now includes

warnings about the risk of being wrongly detained by a foreign government. make no mistake about it, this work is not easy. negotiations are always difficult. there are never any guarantees, but it's my job as president of the united states to make the hard calls and protect american citizens everywhere in the world, anywhere in the world and i'm proud that today we have made one more family whole again. so welcome home, brittney and now i'd like to invite cherelle to say a few words, of course, she's not excited at all about this. cherelle, it's all your, kiddo. congratulations again. >> thank you, thank you. over the last nine months you all have been so privy to one of the darkest moments of my life and today i'm standing here overwhelmed with emotions, but the most important emotion that i have right now is just sincere gratitude for president biden and his entire administration.

he just mentioned this work is not easy and it has not been. there's been so many hands involved and so i'd like to take a moment to just specifically mention a few. vice president harris, secretary blinken, jake sullivan, from the national security council, roger cartson, anne fletcher, from the office invoice office, a special thank you to governor richardson and mickey, the mercury players, the wnba p.a. for your advocacy and also you guys may not know this, but my family has been tremendously supported by the agency, lindsay colis has been amazing for me and my family throughout this process, so today my framily is whole, but as you all are aware, there's so many other families who are not whole and so bg is not here to say this but i will gladly speak

on her behalf and say bg and i will remain committed to the work of getting every american home including paul whose family is in our hearts today as we celebrate bg being home. we do understand that there are still people out here who are enduring what i endured the last nine months of missing tremendously their loved ones, so thank you, everybody, for your support and today is just a happy day for me and my family so i'm going to smile right now. thank you. >> thank you all very much. >> mr. president, what -- >> -- prisoner want. >> when will brittney be back in the u.s.? >> brittney griner on her way home now on a plane on her way back from russia to the united states. president biden just announcing the release, a trade for arms dealer viktor bout. cecilia vega at the white house. something the president has been working on for months. >> reporter: george, they've been working on this at the

highest levels of these governments between here and the united states and moscow with constant talks and as you heard the president say not just talks between these government, the president has been in close contact over these last nine months with cherelle griner. george, we have to pause and talk about that smile on cherelle griner's face. what a day for this family to see brittney griner as she called her by her nickname bg on her way home. president biden posting on instagram and twitter this photo saying just moments ago you can see right there they were on the phone with brittney griner. he says she is safe. she is on a plane. she is on her way home. we know that griner was pardoned by putin before she left russia. that the swap between these two prisoners -- for the prisoner exchange happened at the abu dhabi airport early this morning and president biden saying just now this was a -- this was not a choice about which american to bring home because paul whelan is still in custody and he is saying moscow views that as a very different case that he will

work to -- the administration will continue to try to bring him home. you heard cherelle griner there say that this will be both her and brittney's mission going forward that they remain committed to getting these other americans home but, george, the headline here, the smile on her face, brittney griner is on her way home. what a day this is. what a coup for this administration but most importantly brittney griner is on her way home as we speak. >> to martha raddatz. the president devoted so much of that statement to the case of paul whelan and already heard from whelan's family. >> reporter: we have, george. an incredibly gracious yet heartbreaking statement. let me read part of it. i am so glad, this is from david whelan, paul's twin brother, i am so glad brittney griner is on her way home. as the family member of a russian hostage i can only imagine the joy she will have being reunited with her loved ones, the biden administration made the right decision to bring ms. griner home and to make the

deal that was possible rather than waiting for one that wasn't going to happen. now, when trevor reed was released earlier this year, the family released a statement, paul whelan said why was i left behind? but that is not happening this time. david said in the statement, it is so important to me to make clear that we do not begrudge ms. griner her freedom. but he said at some level our family has steeled ourselves for this likelihood despite the possibility that there might be an exchange without paul, our family is still devastated. they, of course, george, are very worried about his health. he has been there four years and has many -- 12 years to go on that sentence so there is a lot of worry in the whelan family but, again, an incredibly gracious statement and president biden, of course, mentioned that he will stay on this case and cherelle as well. >> martha, we heard president biden say that the russians insist on treating paul whelan's

case differently. at minimum he's another bargaining chip. >> reporter: another bargaining chip. i guess they weren't about to release two people who are being detained for just viktor bout, although that is a major exchange, excuse me, so they will -- the russians will try something else. you can imagine, but this is a very different case and the whelans say that as well. paul whelan was accused of spying and they claim again that he had a usb drive on him that contained the names of intelligence officers and he has been detained since 2018 and charged with spying. obviously a very serious charge in russia, george. >> martha raddatz, thanks. pierre thomas, viktor bout, notorious arms dealer. his heyday in the '90s. >> reporter: known as the merchant of death and this was a person that u.s. law enforcement had wanted to serve every bit of his sentence, but clearly the

freedom of brittney griner became the priority. law enforcement knew it. they went along with this, helped facilitate it, george, but clearly this was a man who was involved in flying weapons all across the world including to africa where thousands of people were killed supposedly with his weapons. the dea eventually took him down in a sting operation. he's now on a plane flying back to russia, but all smiles, a lot of people very happy that brittney griner, her nightmare is over. >> pierre thomas, viktor bout, no real intelligence value now. i mean all of his activities were so long ago. >> reporter: absolutely. his intelligence opportunities to wreak havoc are over. the u.s. law enforcement had tried to get information from him obviously but now he's of limited value in terms of intelligence. some law enforcement officials, of course, wanted him to serve his sentence to pay a penalty for all the death that he helped bring about across the world,

but, again, everyone today happy that brittney griner is coming home. >> okay, pierre, thanks. want to bring in steve ganyard. of course, steve, this comes as we're seeing vladimir putin's forces face trouble in ukraine. that's the backdrop for this entire negotiation. >> yeah, george, it all comes back down to ukraine and for putin trying to gain negotiating leverage and to get the u.s. to come off of its very hard line on ukraine. i do want to go back just briefly to something president biden said that's very important here and he made the comment here that people need to be careful about where, when they travel. look at the state department advisories. what he is saying is that the russians will always hold some americans on trumped up charges and so they may have let brittney griner go here today, but they will grab somebody somewhere else and have them as a negotiating tool sometime in the future. so this is what the president is saying, be careful, don't be -- >> steve, that was a pretty

remarkable warning to have that come not some state department bulletin but from the president of the united states. >> yes, we just need to stand by this. this has been the russian m.o. for years. it's pretty much kgb standard operating procedure and so we can expect the russians will want to have at least a few americans that they can use to negotiate when it's useful, obviously brittney griner's utility has peaked and so putin has let her go but see paul whelan is still held because putin believes that there's still some negotiating leverage being had with him. >> steve, does this swap at this time tell you that more is going on in possible negotiations over the war in ukraine? >> at this point, george, i think it's just theme setting and putin trying to improve his negotiating position. this as martha said this is not going to change a lot of minds but has been an irritant and something that the president hasn't been age to further any broader discussions with nato allies and with the ukrainians

about potential peace negotiations because it's just that political problem for president biden and now putin has solved that and putin will hope that that will begin to move things forward towards negotiations. >> steve, thanks very much. want to bring in jon karl. jon, we saw the smile on cherelle griner's face. we saw president biden take to the cameras early this morning. he's on a pretty remarkable run over the last several weeks. >> reporter: he sure is, george. but this one particularly sweet for president biden. this had been such a high priority for him and think about this, brittney griner has been in russian prisons for 294 days. almost immediately since she was detained. this was a priority, not just for the biden administration but personally for president biden and when you think about her detention coming exactly one week before the russians invaded

ukraine, the negotiations against the backdrop that couldn't have been any more difficult, you know, biden at the very time his administration trying to negotiate her release also leading worldwide opposition to the russian invas invasion, a tricky situation to say the least, and one where the russians as steve mentioned were clearly trying to use her not just as a bargaining chip to get somebody else released, viktor bout, but clearly trying to use this to gain leverage against that u.s. opposition and the u.s. worldwide opposition to the invasion of ukraine. >> jon karl, not many issues draw bipartisan support in washington these days, expect it here. >> reporter: absolutely. i mean, this is something -- not just bipartisan, george, i mean, there was a nationwide movement to bring attention to keep

attention on this case for nearly ten months, sustained attention, you know, democrat, republican, but also out in the sports world, the nba, the wnba, trying to make sure that brittney griner was not forgotten as she spent all that time in a russian prison. >> martha, you know, these negotiations always so fraught for presidents. the more you trade, the more it could encourage adversaries to take more hostages. >> reporter: exactly and that's what administrations trouble over every time and in the end, if you can free someone and you give up someone who is of no value essentially anymore, that cycle could continue and i think that is exactly why president biden said, please be careful. please do not go to places you are not supposed to be. take heed of those state department statements and

warnings when you travel, because, indeed, the russians will take someone else if someone is there and they will negotiate and in this one they got viktor bout. there's so many exchanges over the past many years, and, of course, trevor reed was freed in an exchange as well. but now we have brittney griner and we're all very happy about that. >> that is the good news today, brittney griner is free from russian prison on a plane on her way home. that's all for us right now. have a good day. >> announcer: this has been a secial report fro kumasi: you just heard from president biden talking about the release of brittney griner and hearing from her wife who was relieved and happy she is on a plane back home. reggie: we saw pictures of the white house -- the pictures the white house shared of the moment britney was able to talk to the white house and her wife.

the other thing that stuck out to me was this note from paul whelan's brother saying that they celebrate brittney griner's release. they say they recognize their case is different from brittney griner's their case involves an accusation of espionage. to be actually delivered when it comes to the warnings out about countries like russia when you are visiting them.

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